Reviewing scheduling order; reviewing patents and file history Medical guide wires, also known as wire guides, are widely used in cardiovascular surgical procedures as well as gastrointestinal tract, ureter tract and urinary tract procedures to assist the physician in positioning catheters and other devices within the body. In this technique, a physician guides a slim and flexible guide wire through a body lumen until the guide wire enters the body organ or cavity of interest. The typical medical guide wire used for cardiovascular, urological, and other procedures has an elongated body with a distal end and a proximal end. For example, in cardiovascular procedures the distal end of the guide wire is introduced into the vascular system and manipulated from the proximal end by the physician. Once the guide wire has been placed, the physician may then use the guide wire to pass other instruments into the patient. For instance, the proximal end of the guide wire may be placed in a lumen of a catheter or an endoscope, and the catheter or endoscope may then also be guided into the patient along the same guide wire that was previously placed.
To navigate the vascular and other pathways the guide wire must be stiff enough to permit the physician to “push” the wire. However, the guide wire must be flexible enough to be guided to the desired location in the patient not to damage the patients vascular structures. To meet these needs, a variety of wire guides are known having variable flexibility constructions.
For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,789,841; 4,545,390; and 4,619,274 show guidewires in which the distal end section of the wire is tapered along its length to allow great flexibility in that remote region of the guidewire.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,445 suggests the use of a two-portion guidewire having a body portion relatively high in rigidity and a distal end portion which is comparatively flexible.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,602 describes a guide wire useful for guiding a catheter within a blood vessel. The guide wire is formed of a single length of shape memory alloy. The guide has a central portion of uniform diameter and substantially identical tapered end portions each terminating in enlarged diameter portions defining smoothly rounded beads which function to reduce trauma to the lumen of a blood vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,637B describes a composite guide wire for use in a catheter and for accessing a targeted site in a lumen system of a patient's body. The composite guide wire includes multi-section guide wire assemblies having super-elastic distal portions and super-elastic braided reinforcements along the mid or distal sections. A variation of the guide wire includes coating of the wire with a tie layer and then with one or more lubricious polymers to enhance its suitability for use within catheters and within the interior of vascular lumen.
Another wire guide that attempts to combine stiffness with flexibility properties is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,068. The guide wire includes a first wire located at the distal end of the guide wire, a second wire located at the proximal end of the guide wire and having a flexural rigidity greater than that of the first wire, and a tubular connector for joining the first and second wires. The connector has one or more grooves or slits formed on the distal side of the boundary between the first wire and the second wire. The connector is formed of a material different from the material of the first wire. The proximal portion of the first wire is provided with a thin metal coating. The first wire is joined to the connector by brazing at the portion provided with the thin metal coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,882B describes various designs suitable for connecting different guide wire sections together. More particularly, connecting two portions of a guide wire having different material compositions with a connector having a third composition which is readily weldable to each of the dissimilar portions of the guide-wire. A transition area may be designed to provide a region of desired flexibility characteristics.